The Sundering

Acyth

We returned to Stonehold to speak with Acyth with the bow he wished to claim. Only he wasn’t expecting the bow to be held by the archer who once wielded it. He didn’t expect Bridgit to be alive.

She negotiated with him for some time, and I think she might have gotten the better of him, though that is something I’m thinking that may take years to truly figure out. She should have time – she’s an elf.

The important stuff though – she (Brigit) is going to Strata to find Galena. I have a bad feeling about it, but what do I know – I’m a simple kitra warrior. She managed to trade that bow of hers and a few other items for plenty of things – some of which she threw our way – she got some new weapons and armor, money and a few trinkets. Anything more is hers to tell – not mine.

We ended up getting the following:

A hammer

Black chainmail

Fill in other stuff!!!

Acyth mentioned that some of the things that the White Witch may be looking for might, just maybe, put Neil’s sis in danger. Carreg got some book about a crown and something about it intergrating, and people from the Aerish lands have started to show up and are looking to hire people to do things for them. Acyth sent some of them up into Morlan hinting they were sent to a different dragon, and others were sent to a guy named Kaiser who- I think- (thanks Neil) is a dragon over in Panthas.

We decided to go the other way and take a look at the Southern Wall. Supposedly there is supposed to be a thing along it and Carreg wants to check it out. Can’t be too much worse than the last two cities we discovered. The first had a bunch of elves hiding from a dragon, and the second was a full fledged city hiding in the woods – that one had elves, humans, dwarves, and more, but no kitra. I think we should let someone know, before it comes out that was us… but again, I am but a simple kitra warrior….

We’ve got a couple of weeks to check things out, and then we’re supposed to head north to Valor to attend a royal wedding up there where Neil is supposed to be jousting.

I know Careg and Emily won’t be happy with my decision, but they wouldn’t have been happy either way.

After we get back with Kerian, I will give Asimon the sword of the undead. It gets it out of our hands and now that my pact with Viska is done, it is best to get it out of my hands.

The other option was to steal a gate from the Temple of Tynerion in Deepspring. They weren’t going to like that either. I could do it, but I wouldn’t have been as ruthless as I might need to be in order to get it out if they came with me. And I doubt that they would let me do that mission on my own. That, and if caught I really don’t want to become another Saint Aldin. shudder

So, the plan….

Go to Temple of Bast cringe and get info/help on how to locate Kerian.

Portal into Greenbank. Drop off our stuff with the Lady of Ravens and copy the necklace that will get us through the gate in her basement. Maybe go through gate long enough to put a locator item to find gate while inside and head back through.

Meet with Asimon a half days ride outside the last village outside of Tridrake on the way to Deepspring. Here, Asimon will get us to the right plane and we will go get Kerian. Then we will reattach his soul to his body. Once we have him, Asimon will get us home. Failing that, we will use the banishing marbles from Sorsha. If that fails we will try to either get out the gate in Greenbank or the gate in Deepspring. Failing that we will use the sword of undead to rip a hole back. Failing that…we pray. Maybe find a way to get to Axial.

Reason for Asimon, great distraction, knowledge of the planes, good fighter.

The road to Hell is paved with the best intentions.

A chest, and backpack with Euraka’s Temporal Pipeline upon it. It’s use is intermittent, but should prove useful.

And in return she was given the necklace that stores magical energy, and the collection of magical foci. We allowed, no we insisted, she use the magical amplifier to improve the effectiveness of the different items. Every little bit might help.

After that we spoke with Azimon – and reached a deal with him and some of his minons to provide safe passage to and from where we think that Kerian is located. Azimon thinks finding Kerian will be easy and we’ll be able to move with impunity, but i’m not as sold on that part currently.

We have about an hour or two, and then we leave to head North. We are going to drop off some stuff we don’t want to lose in Hell, and then meet Azimon at the designated spot, and then go in after him.

This has potential to go wrong on so many levels, and I still need to scream at Neil for boxing out Carreg and I from the discussions with Azimon. What did he promise. Will I need to kill Azimon before he can take delivery of whatever Neil promised him?

What happened to Kerian

The city of the undead is nothing more than a memory. Where the city once stood there is only a crater. The only evidence that there was a city here are the vestigial buildings that stood outside the former city walls.

Inside there was something bad, something evil. Something did need to be done about it, but not by just four of us, probably now three.

I owed him a debt, him and Carreg both. If we find him alive, I’m gonna kill that cat!

They realize how bad things could have been, and that something needed to be done, but I don’t think they know – things like that could fester on the landscape and become extremely difficult to unroot, but still… was it worth the cost? Couldn’t we have rounded up the others? CC, Gato, Galena, Harken and more?

I don’t want to be callous, but the people who were inside, they were already lost – and my tears for them would have been sparse.

Inside it wasn’t as bad as I feared. The city was a hunter’s trap – allowing game to enter but not to leave. It had collected undead, lots of undead, but what was the threat? While we were inside we traveled from one shell of a building to another, and we fought a few things – but there was (surprisingly) food and water, and the odds didn’t seem insurmountable. There was little of true value left – we picked through scraps that were left behind or forgotten as those who lived in the city fell.

Could it have been walled off? Warded?

Tonight I feel old, older than any of them can imagine, and I feel so alone – he, no Kerian, was the first, but it’ll be their fates too…

without getting ourselves killed immediately

These notes will need refined, this is just getting a few ideas on paper before they are forgotten.

The problem: There is a horde of undead heading toward the Necropolis, possibly led by an avatar of Ammalus. Nearby, there are large numbers of dead Orcs and Goblins that we really don’t want added to her army.

Goals:

1.) Destroy the current army
2.) Prevent them from entering (or leaving) the Necropolis
3.) Prevent the addition of dead Orc & Goblin armies
4.) Don’t get caught (or killed)
– Blame someone else (Pyrin would be a good choice.)
– Redirect to Aerish lands instead of Liaha.

Ideas:

To cast blame:

- Use or plant an artifact of Pyrin (Might need to acquire or forge (Mask) first)
- Portal back to on top of/below/near a temple of Pryin
- Actually get a demon of Pyrin involved? (No idea how, yet.) - wait, wasn’t there a demon book of Pyrin somewhere?
- Possible use of Glamour/Mask – The best chance of this working would be if we could somehow make it what they expect to see, so they don’t bother trying to look deeper.

- Who else could we redirect to?
– Harkin: This is possible, but since he is currently in Liaha might backfire
– Takedans: We should figure out where the Takedans that left Realterre (and any of their Iron Warriors) ended up
– Other ideas?

Decimate the current horde:

- Get them to walk into some sort of ambush
– ???
– Fire?
– Walk under many force walls/floating tables that are holding up loads of Napalm, dispell, then set on fire
– It would be very difficult to cover the needed area for long enough
– Get them to walk through a field of fireweed (we do have at least a few seeds after all)

- Mechanical/Magical merging – Still working on: (Getting into place for deployment could be tricky -Turtles?)
– Use fountain-drain bowl set/water engine/alt world steam engine to pump oil from a larger on the inside container over the horde like a firehose → Then combustion.
– Similarly, use animation to power a spinning mechanical flinger for the gel, then set afire
– Mechanical timer switches to open shuttered sun-stones? (Are there any that actually cause damage, or just discomfort)

Prevent the raising of an army from under a mountain:

Step 1:
– Find the large concentrations of bodies

Possible Steps 2:
- Get there first & destroy the bodies
– ??? – If they weren’t already crushed beyond saving by a mountain, I’m not sure what we can do
– Summon some sort of Elemental to destroy?

- Get there first & use the sword to raise them ourselves (then hopefully set them to rest)
– Any plan that involves us using a demon sword seems like a bad plan, but I’m willing to hear arguments
– This has the added benefit/drawback of drawing attention to the existence of the sword

- Mass Last Rites before she gets there
– This really isn’t Forge’s domain, so it would need to be done by someone else
– Figure out which gods would be good at a laying a battlefield to rest & get them to go along with this
– I still think Gorag might be best to do this, so that Ammalus and Gorag are fighting each other
– Would the seed things given by Viska be enough to reclaim them for her? Is there natural magic that could help?

Notes and questions in the analysis of motivations

1. Thief and bard trained lost princess of Valor – it seems like it should have been easier for her to escape on her own
2. The lord seems to want to make it easy for her to escape (showing her room, bringing her to the capital on a flimsy pretext even after her escape attempt, her training)
3. The lord has made sure that both he and Dia are as familiar with the north as possible
4. He has expressed extreme interest in the laws of Liaha
5. He seems to want her romantic interest and/or good will but he has not freed her, even though it would be possible for him

Questions to ask:

If they are working together:
- Are they trying to play us and lead us into a trap?
- Do they actually want help, and are twisty complicated politicians/thieves who cannot just ask directly?
- Why do they need our help? What do we bring that the lord of a city cannot arrange on his own?
- Connections up North? Vouch for his good will?

If they are working separately each for their own ends:

- If he wants her free
- Why does he need (our) help to free her?
- Just saving face, he would lose political power if she escapes (he implied this, but it seem insufficient)
- Yet he could easily fake her death and just get her a disguise to get out of the country?
- Maybe he is contracted not to let her escape as part of how she came into his possession in the first place and he is circumventing the contract?
- He wants blame for her escape (either successful or not) to fall on Calvin
- What would he gain if Calvin is blamed for aiding in her escape (since it would be an obvious conclusion)?
- What repercussions would being blamed for helping her escape cause for us?
- What benefit could she serve for him once she is back in Valor?
- If she is not favorably inclined to him since he did not obviously help her escape?
- If she is favorable – marriage to gain some form of power/nobility in the North?
- Suspects he might be given her hand in exchange for helping?
- Politics between Valor and Arlien
- Is there any connection to the linked ring of unknown full purpose?
- How could we tell after if him wanting her free was the case? What sort of search would be expected in either case?

- If he wants to keep her
- What negative effects will our helping (and almost certainly getting blamed) have on the team?
- Would it be different if just he suspects us than if everyone does?
- Why did he bring her to Realterre when he basically knows she has asked us to help her escape?
- Back to he wants to be able to clearly blame Calvin
- Blame us to the elves or to the humans?
- How do the elves tie into her disappearance in the first place?

Possible actions:

- Help her just vanish
- We would almost certainly be blamed
- Unless we could blame the other Valorians instead
- Fake her death, then get her out? (Oops, she fell in the Piranah moat trying to escape, nothing is left of her body.) (Try not to think about transmuting corpses to look like her.)
- He might think that is too convenient, but if he needs face saving might ignore it.
- Why wouldn’t he have done this himself? Why involve us?
- The mysterious ring?
- Something with how he got her to begin with?
- Can we get records on this?
- Was anyone else brought down with her? Or along the way?

An Incomplete List of Things to Investigate or Events in which to Intercede

So, do I offer Azmi condolences or congratulations on his new relationship? And are we hoping he is local, or that he is on the other side of the continent?

Anyway, I figure that with the approach of the new year and the hordes of goblins and undead, I should start organizing a list of concerns that should either be investigated or acted upon. With events speeding up, it may be important to address these issues before they return to bite us after we neglect them for too long. [And what does it say about our life choices that the previous sentence might be literal?]

The List

Demon Caravan: Should we intercede? –
Knights of Tynerion are taking something apparently valuable along a road plagued by “dragon” attacks.

“Dragon” attacks
Attacks byt three “dragons” follow patterns illustrated on an expensive map. (I’d like to recoup the information cost if nothing else, thought she may have resold that information since we haven’t acted in a timely manner.) Still, even with the mapped pattern, the geographical area to cover to determine the base of operations is extensive and difficult to canvass by a group as distinctive as ours.
*This is potentially an opportunity for profit, but until I come up with a better plan than wandering aimlessly up and down a road waiting to be attacked , it will be difficult to convince the others to help satisfy my curiosity as to what these “dragons” actually are and what motivates their (possible) backers.
*The goods they stole might also provide armament against undead hoards.
*How exactly do these creatures tie in with our mysterious spy at the Inn?
*Where is the basement where she found the map, and what else is there?

Books found with Dux –
(Given past experience, these should be looked at in a safe environment, with backup on hand to intervene if the reader starts speaking aloud or otherwise behaving out of character.)
# 1. Blue book – sparkly leather, slight metallic smell, silver edges – design on the front (Title on front cover – The aftermath, on Demons)
# 2. Book – has mechanical flap, plain brown leather, deceptively light – heavy enchantment magic – (Didn’t open immediately)
# 3. Red leather brown book, spine cracking, well used, magical – pictures of what look to be a young boy and girl running around the spine – (Title: “blah’s” Tales for Children)
# 4. plain leather, brown, titled “The bard, thief of the Gods”
# 5. “On future history” : Less magical than others
# 6. “The World” – Magical, larger book, picture of flatted circle – sketch in gold leaf on the front – (Atlasy looking) – Binding has mismatched ends – oversized where the book would curve
# 7. Magic book – black leather – edges of pages are black
# 8. Book containing lockpicks with markings I’ve never seen before (and might not even be language) three different sets

The Men In Black
They are dealing with goblins (dealing harshly, but still, not killing them on sight)
* Killed primary sources regarding man in black leading goblins and orcs – two were killed subtly (6 month ago, and 2 month ago) then multiple others that were not subtle, killed more recently. One killed was a merchant, one was a weapons merchant who had gotten hands on something unusual, a wood engraver
* Possible ties to the King’s Black Guard
* Which has possible ties to the King’s unknown daughter by a red haired, pointy eared foreign princess who vaguely matched the description of a Valorian princess from tales. (At least, that is that tale according to a bard chosen at random, and thus not regarded as a reliable source)
* Note: “Valorian” girl in town has red hair, while her brother has green

Vampyr
It now likely regards us as a threat, but might get itself killed or drafted if Azmi happens to be in the area
* Whatever happened to the group hunting a Vampire? If still alive, they might have information
* Last seen in (Bas Borgi? need to confirm) [Elf, Nivolk, Human, looking for the Vampyr – Elf follows Viska. They signed up 2 Nivolk, looking for other people]
*It might be a good idea to be proactive about this so we aren’t dealing with it at the worst possible time

Aluminium –
I should investigate the use of the extremely expensive metal in fighting demons. Tynerion considers the information on the application of the metal to weapons either proprietary, or entwined with a blessing to Tynerion, but the King’s blacksmith has centuries of family tradition that might hold an answer regarding how to efficiently use this metal.

Guild Affairs -
The head of one of the thieve’s guild’s in town was executed for trying to break into the black tower.
*IF he was actually trying to break in, what made him so desperate as to attempt that personally?
*If not, what did he do to draw notice that would result in his death
*Why the head of this guild and not that of any of the others?
*Have any of the other guilds been impacted? I’m not sure what contacts to use to find out in Realterre.

> Ammalus’s Sword
“Sword" may be metaphorical, and refers to any weapon that can be or use to Ammalus for the controlling of undead
See Journal Volume 72 pg 25 for the list of reasons we have to believe such an item exists and that Ammalus is active enough in the world to be seeking such items out.
For potential specific location, look into the following
The temple of Forge archives has a sword marked with skulls if the head librarian can be convinced Ammalus is an imminent threat (she quite logically doesn’t seem as well informed as the Demon Archivist of Forge who was the previous head librarian.)
Various old graveyards in the city (See list in Volume 68 pg 42)
Pay close attention to statuary in the city, including that above eye level and adorning buildings since the heroes of the town watch over the people

> Allegations against the lord of Gatta Conti, Lord Siel, as brought by the arena fighter Gil (Geel?, sp?)
Allegations have been partially substantiated by questioning sources about Siel and finding similar reports of his character, potentially corroborating loopholes in council law propositions, and in Gil’s reputation with a random Kitra on the street. A visit to the town in person might provide further insight, or at least an iterating chain of events since Bast has sent Kitra to Gatta Conti to “keep an eye on things”.

> Acaccio
There have been so many tales about this town that I would like to see it in person just to assuage my curiosity and in the hopes that the chaos we seem to travel amidst might change the town for the better.
It is interesting to note that supposedly Acaccio was the town where magic first reappeared in the South.
Abbadon’s home town

> The Cat and Dwarf of Tynerion are seeking the Ringbearer
What ring? We should eliminate the possibility that they are seeking either Rivan or the local king (based on the list of titles that require further elucidation, including that he is “The continual seeker of the ring").

> Ping to the south of Stonehold, heard by Dwarf of Tynerion but not others about 4 weeks before they gated South (exactly how long after Scout?)
I do not recall hearing this ping in either timeline
This might have to do with the Dwarven city that once stood along the walls
Could Scout’s flight over the city have triggered something?

> Items the White Witch wants us to get any one of in exchange for sacrificing the box of drawers. (I guess Pyrin and his bride don’t like sacrifices as much when they are the ones inconvenienced?) The assumption is that these are artifacts of Pyrin, but that might be pure conjecture based on context and further investigation is warranted.
On the map WW gives Riven that has a command word that can be used another dozen times
scroll over Stonehold
Pyrrin looking box in middle of Kiitra plains
a black crown – Dowskill’s crown -
the harper’s bow – (has more than usual number of strings)
(three more – none of the seven are in RealTerre)

> Demonic presence under the city
How bad is it that there are no longer 4 fish pools and the pools for mammals and vegetables no longer exist?
Are there pools of skeleton fish in this reality? (Need to confirm and check notes, the overlap and the resultant confusion warrant increased caution when relying on memory

> Locations of the Great Libraries other than Nix’s
Elven, Dwarvish, Nivolk

> Necropolis – Should we be attempting to trigger an attack on this city (preferably by someone other than us) before the things inside can leave?
In (mid Sept?) there was some noise to the east (magical – we don’t quite know what it was, but unsubstantiated information claims that Dowskill found a gate. He had to get to the gate, then activate the gate and what we heard the activation – right now, things can enter, but not leave
Dowskill’s agents are attempting to release the spells to let them out
Hopefully this isn’t tied to slave caravans that disappear to the east

> Do dragon’s shed & do dragonscale objects repel flames?

> The “Night Walker”
Wizard found at the temple of Forge claims to be a “consultant” – his name has been largely forgotten and he wishes it to remain so. He can be called the “Night Walker”.

Tynerion knights may live a more interesting life than us - poor buggers

After the meeting we decided to leave town for a bit. Check on the properties and the like. Really we decided to go intercept the Tynerion peoples, because, um well… yeah.

So did a bit of looking about with the magic types. Found the Tynerion guys. They look like they made good time, got equipment, and horses. Resourceful. Or was all of that in their keep thing? Either way, they’re provisioned.

Looks like there are 6 of them. The kitra and dwarf we knew from before, and then they’ve got a couple of people from the plains, a half-elf and a plains kitra.

So we packed up and left. Made our way out past the property, Raven’s Curse Hold. And we find that they’re recovering from the attack. Couple of people died – farmers, and I think a guard. They chopped down more trees. Rivaldess must hate this place by now. (Another reason for me to avoid it!) And the cleric of Vanir & Freya arrived and was helping bury the dead & bless the property.

Neil took a quick tour and they talked a bit. Looks like the plans for the place are moving along. People wanted to get sheep and dyes to make some stuff to sell. Good idea, I guess. Set up the steward with a note so he can get Em to get some things sorted. I hope we’ll be back in town before then though.

Finally continued on and got a few more hours away. Ended up at a small inn for the night. The Crossroads or something – I guess that was what that iron cross stood for outside his inn. Had a stage with some lights and a bard. We got a room, and were placed well away from the other patrons, on account of Lord Calvin’s sickness you see. :)

Not much to tell. Some food, and took off the next morning. Ended up finding the Tynerion guys in the next town. Found them repairing an old shrine, and the locals called on ’em to do some judgement thing. Yeah, we went into the bar, but got pulled out when everyone else went to watch too.

Guy was some sort of thief, and stole some food. People didn’t like that, and the Tynerions knights got to decide. Looks like they’ll put him in charge of the local temple. <sigh>.

So they recognized us. Of course they did. Talked with them for a while, and they’re pretty determined to get answers from the capital. Of course they are. What else could go wrong.

Mental note:STOPASKINGTHATQUESTION!!!!

We found A vamphir found us during the night. Drained dry a dog in the courtyard, and later one of the Tynerion horses. Carreg and Neil were out looking at the wall. The magical wall meant to keep out nivolk. It had some sort of markings and was about 3 feet high or so. But, back to the vamphir – apparently it can take on some sort of mist form and drain things dry of fluids. Doesn’t look like any person was hurt, just a couple of animals. I guess that is good.

So traveled the next day with the knights back towards the city. Left behind the thief, the half-elf, and one of the humans. Their dwarf had a book with some info on these things. A vamphir is part demon and part undead. Joy. Long story short – it likes to take a couple of candidates and take the winner and turn the winner into a vampire as a reward.

Made our way into the little village. Got the same rooms again. Innkeeper is afraid that Neil is contagious since we now have another person who looks pale. :) Not too much going on, the kitra and dwarf went with Neil to see the local cleric – who apparently is some sort of old blademaster guy, listened to the bard insult dwarves all night, and then had food and went to bed.

And then we encountered our second visit of our new friendfiend. The vamphir clattered on the roof and then was outside the window. Neil threw some money at it, and that seemed to hurt it. Either the money disappeared when it hit that, or the innkeeper was quick to get outside and collect it after it was chased off. I got a shot off with the bow, and Neil thinks that hurt it. Don’t know if it is good, or bad this thing is after us.

A bit freaky, but I’m sure we can handle it. Made our way back into town, and just started to settle in. CC’s back. Em’s here. Now time to figure out what is next. We were thinking about sending some of us to check the temple of Forge, some to the Temple of Tynerion, and maybe to the sages to see what we can find out about this thing.

Hey, maybe we should find Nyx. Where did CC go? Maybe he came back too… hmmm…

Politics - bah!

Man these journal things are becoming a habit. I need to get back to my carvings. I think I’m going to try a woodcutting next. For paper and stuff. I’ve got this idea about having a bunch of stuff printed up and… well I shouldn’t spoil that surprise.

We were staying at home and checking out a few things around the city and things came to US for a change. I don’t like it.

First the wizard types, shh you know who they are, went and did their thing and went looking to see what the goblins, undead, and other things were up to. We found out lots of stuff, but not necessarily the things we were looking for at first.

The goblins and orcs armies are a hell of a lot less pronounced than the king led us to believe. And he’s got plenty of troops out that way. So sounds like even though the city has its head up its backside, he doesn’t. The forest road looked covered, as did the river to the north.

Then we checked out the site where the dragon loot was found. Saw a merc company there taking inventory and loading up. Carreg had lots of questions, but seemed to make sense, if I’d found it – I’d make sure I knew what I had and I’d have it checked over so something didn’t bite me, figuratively or literally, later.

After that found something weird. It was a camp with a bunch of guys in black armor. No sigils, no papers, no crests – none of it. They had orcs, goblins, and even ogres in the center of their camp. It looked like some sort of prison camp. Something fishy there. Don’t know who or what they are, but a camp in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of black armored warriors and a bunch of goblins, yeah, not good.

The others were doing the same thing, and checked out our property to the southeast. It was under attack. Ravenhold should be renamed to disaster magnet. A few people died, several hurt, a couple of fires in the fields, the silver oaks were cut down and burned. An orc company marched past the property and towards the city. It was being directed by another guy in the black armor. Weird. Sent a message to the town guards about the orcs coming here to attack. Two messages actually. The first was written in Liahan. They, the orcs, got to the outer city first, and spent several minutes slaughtering everyone and everything they could find until the guards showed up. At that point they were getting slaughtered. Not one orc or goblin ran. Not one.

Then they went looking for other stuff. Looks like the other property was safe. Sending CC, and he’s taking Nyx out there.

After that they stumbled across a bunch of farmers. Meh. But the farmers had some sort of treasure map, and shovels. They dug up some sort of weird idol thingy. So we did what any sane person would do… found some Tynerion knights and blooped them to the location. Took some magic work, but it got them there – right as the farmers summoned the demon thingy from the idol. One of the farmers grew a bunch of catfish like feelers out of his back that hit the knights and sent them flying. They did the only thing sensible – they dropped a building on it. Seriously. The Tynerion nights are a bit stranded down there, and it looks like they’re making their way towards the city we’re in. But they are limited in supplies, so it should take them a couple of extra days, like 5 to 7 instead of the 3 or 4 that it would be walking otherwise.

After that had a visitor. We had Abbadon show up at our door. Neil and Em went to talk to him first. Em came back in the room and grabbed Carreg. The little I gleaned from that conversation was that Abbadon had someone take away some of his abilities or possessed him. He came back to himself in a bar in front of scary sage lady really drunk. He doesn’t want anyone to know, it might weaken his base of followers or some sort. He’s convinced he’s on the path to godhood. He’s a looney. So Neil was sympathetic and took him to the Doctor’s pools. Abbadon sputtered a lot, said he was going to the meeting, and then never showed.

So, the meeting, well ended up that the king spoke, at length. Security of the kingdom, of the city, that the attack today was repelled. Called on people to step up and meet their obligations, and then to give their oath to king and country. Lots of crap in the oath about duty. Sounds pretty severe if you fail your duty. Neil was found mouthing the words, and ended up being called out for it. Neil explained that he couldn’t give his word as being from another kingdom. So steward told him he had “Forbearance” meaning that he has until the end of spring to get King Pyriar to agree to some sort of accommodation about Neil or he loses his position at the head of the council and his lands down here.

Neil was the only one that was caught, but there were a few others that had some unintended consequences. The scary sage lady, and Hinla both used the oath to become nobles. Hinla also snuck in papers that the steward had to sign for Neil to confirm it.

Or I really miss my soft and comfy bed.

Been a busy couple of days. Finally back in the city and I’ve got a real kitchen to work in again, and a real bed to sleep in again. Neil says I’m going soft, and I respond with “So?”.

So what do I need to write here…

(Doodles & a sketch)

After we dealt with the basement with the nivolk/half-elf guy and the other things we had gone to the temple of Forge. Carreg did lots of talking, I think I covered that in the last thing I wrote. If I didn’t I’ll add a page here later.

(Blank space for what Kerian things he may have missed. If not more doodles later).

Got back to the house, it was late. Talked with Neil. And he took the idea that there might be a demon statue about a mile from our house surprisingly well. But meant we got to go back out into the city again. Went and checked out the old building and a few people were checking it out. I wonder if they were checking it out because they saw Carreg and I in it earlier, or if it was something else. I’m hoping it was because they saw Carreg and me.

The turtle was still there, and the bookcases hadn’t been moved, yet.

So we —figured that maybe letting someone else know about it, someone that could deal with demon things. Azimon isn’t around here, so that meant going to find Tynerion.

We took the quick way through the runs, and encountered a late night meeting of Abbadon’s followers who used an old Traveler’s statue as a place to speechify from. It made Neil turn a few interesting shades of red and purple. And the vein on his forehead…

Abbadon was there and speaking, but it was like he wasn’t Abbadon. Talking about living together in peace and harmony, the crap about modesty thrown out the window, and women being equals. The crowd went really quiet, a confused quiet, but still quiet. We started to make our way out of there. We had places to be when they figured out something was wrong. So something weird is going on with those religious nutjobs, don’t know what, and if it means Abbadon is someone I don’t have to deal with, I don’t care.

Made our way, finally, to the temple of Forge Tynerion. Ended up thinking it might be a better idea to go and talk to those who hunt and get rid of demons instead of those who would study them. Even Carreg agreed. Got inside the temple (the idiots who worship the Harken statue found a smaller one to worship, outside this temple, and were there.). Talked with the head cleric for a bit, he remembered Calvin as soon as he saw him. Talked with him about demons and stuff, and he had a book about the demon and the guy because he hunted the demon. Some good info, but it told us two important things – the demon thingy should be dealt with, and the knife that was used to kill it too. After our informal little chat, the brandy was put away and he started to brew a pot of kaffee. I wonder what that meant.

Next day was a bunch of council crap. Talking about who was misusing funds, trying to get guards at their property to drill (yeah they just wanted free guard protection), people who complained about not getting their stuff done first. And then somehow the mercenaries have come across goblins that had part of the dragon’s hoard. Finally had one guy who was inspired (uh, oh) to write up laws for reorganizing the councils.

Meeting finally broke up, and Carreg went to the temple, I got to go to Mellus and check out people, and Neil got to go home.

Carreg’s thing found some new head librarian at the temple. Guess he’s got that all squared away. Or is he the new librarian… I didn’t quite catch that. Maybe I should ask, nyaa.

Went to the temple of Mellus/playhouse. And even with being hours late, there were still over a hundred people there who wanted to perform for a noble. The first round of cuts was easy – I got rid of the sword swallowers (3), the guy who was an escape artist, the lady who danced around with nothing but fans, the troupe who were going to perform some scene from a book that the other performers gasped about – stopped them when they started to undress on stage. Side note, need to ask about that book, don’t like feeling ignorant or anything, and the group of Nivolk that liked to throw each other around.

The second round of cuts was almost as easy. The kitra slash dancers – dancing with swords/staves, the dwarvish brass and drum core (I didn’t even know they had one in town, but the suspenders was a sight… hmm may have to hire them to serenade Carreg if he was made librarian… hmm), the guy who thought ripping people off was entertainment – ball and cup, card tricks, dice tricks – um, nope. The mousey lady who lost her spectacles, then her cloak, then her… while she asked the dwarvish brass and crore to play… yeah, she was a nope too.

The first ones to seem decent was this guy all in black. Jumped around stage alot, but had a good story, and kept my attention. Neil will hate this guy! Check! He’s in.

Second one that almost got a spot was a nivolk girl. She had to be just of legal age, just. Her entertainment was being able to climb up, and into, nearly anything. She was damn hard to see even on a lighted stage. If we wanted someone to spy for us, yeah, for someone to help at a property, um no.

Next guy was an acrobat, and he said he knew some singing. Seemed like a decent fellow, but a bit full of himself though. Picked him to come out because of a comment he made “We all come from humble beginnings, but what we make from those is important” – that property sure is humble, and if he can do something to help, then might be worth it.

Another almost was an elvin guy/girl. I’ll be honest, with them it was hard to tell. The voice didn’t help either. They said they were pretty young, but had a variety of talents that could entertain everyone from a human king to a human child. The mention of human kind of unnerved me, but whatever. They told stories, sang songs, played a lute, and said they knew the harp, flute as well. Asked where they came from and got an answer of “a land beyond the trees, molded by the will of the elders, a land beyond time, a land of beauty, of truth, of innocence, a place we should all aspire to” Uh-huh. But man were those songs haunting.

Third was a kitra. She played the lute, and sang. Stories about life on the plains, in Kitran. Well I guess that is the only way those make sense. She came in with a pack and put it aside, gently, and when she was done she went and talked with a bunch of the others. She wasn’t actually as good as some of the others, but a bunch of them came out, did their bit, and then either waited alone, or just left. She went and sought out others to mingle and interact. Yeah, they’ll need that out there.

Another almost was a half orc. I wish I could have given him a chance, but I can’t see sending out there a half orc. Instead I told him to ask at Valus’ place. :) He was strong, and did a strongman routine, then asked me to pick any one of the other performers – I choose elvin thing, and the dwarvish band. Somehow he had a song and music that just worked within just a couple of minutes. He knew his weapons, he had done a stint in the arena, one in a merc company, and now wanted something that was more civilized – his word not mine. He wore armor instead of some fancy outfit, and had to ask him about it, apparently it was his own design – he learned how to make it from it in the stint with the mercs. Yeah, he would have been interesting.

Final one was a nivolk that was a drummer. He had a drum kit that was as big as him. He was also a good sport about it too, while he set-it up with some frames and stuff, he was joking that not only does this mean he has skills with drums, but also fortification assembly, but only if it is nivolk sized. Lots of drumming, and it was pretty good, but even better was when one fell. He walked around the drums, while playing, and started kicking the offending drum, in time. When he was finished he went off and talked with a bunch of others too. I think that’ll be important. He gets an invite.

Left to head out to the dumps Ravenhold the next morning with a whole lot of people C.C stayed behind. (Maybe he was the lucky one… hmm). Both stewards, guard captain, cleric, and more. I made the mellus people walk.

Got out to the property, and looks like they’ve already started working. They cut down Rivaldess holy trees. Really? I mean, really? Used them for everything from lumber, charcoal, staves, and more. At least they’re using the wood, I guess?

Took a tour of the property, and got things started to settle. Neil picked his bards. Tumbling guy turned out to be a tool. Wants to follow Neil around. Think he wants to look up Neil’s skirt. Slept in a tent. Left for the second property.

Second property was in order. Except for one not so little thing. Had a guy who was in the stocks. Apparently even without a Lord or steward in residence they were able to handle a problem. One of the guards is a human cesspool. Guy attempted to do things he shouldn’t to people he shouldn’t. They put him in a quickly made, but still surprisingly good, set of stocks. Set up here was a bit weird as Lord Calvin got to make his first real ruling, and he ordered the guy put down. Makes sense, that’s what you do to rabid animals.

Finally made our way back into town. And had a guest waiting for us, and sparring with C.C. Our problem solver who had checked out the creepy lady from months ago. Apparently creepy lady was following up info on the dragons around the city. Carreg is going to pour over the maps and try to make sense of ’em.

And now time for bed. I think I’m going to make breakfast, with some good Liahan food tomorrow, and then go back for a nap, then some practice, and then a bath. Nothing wrong with being a bit soft when you have fur, eh?